The Calcutta High Court on Monday granted police protection to 303 victims of the West Bengal post-poll violence that ensued following the victory of the TMC party in the assembly elections in May 2021, a report published by Live Law said. The decision was made after the petitioner informed the court that the victim will face serious difficulties because they are constantly threatened by local TMC goons and police authorities are refusing to take action.
A Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajrashi Bharadwaj took on record a detailed affidavit filed by petitioner Priyanka Tibrewal, who appeared in person, in which the names and contact information of 303 alleged victims of post-poll violence were enumerated.
The petitioner also informed the Bench that if police protection is not provided to these victims, they will face serious difficulties because they are constantly threatened by local goons and police authorities are refusing to take any action.
The Court was also informed that 47 of the 303 alleged victims were unable to return to their workplace, 92 were victims whose houses had been demolished, and 164 were victims who had been forcibly evicted from their homes and were thus unable to return to their places of residence.
Taking note of the complaint, the Court directed the petitioner to serve a copy of the affidavit filed on the Advocate General, as well as the DG and IG of Police, West Bengal, so that appropriate action could be taken. Furthermore, the DG and IG of Police have been directed to ensure that the 303 victims are not harassed by police or local goons.
During the hearing, the petitioner also stated that a committee comprised of two members—one from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and one from the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC)—should be formed so that the affidavit containing the names of the 303 alleged victims could be presented to the Committee to ascertain the true ground situation.
As a result, the Court granted the petitioner’s request to include the NHRC as a party in the current proceedings.
The Court also took the CBI’s fourth status report on record. Additional Solicitor General YJ Dastoor, appearing for the CBI, informed the Bench that the CBI is still investigating the 28 cases that were mentioned during the previous hearing.
Furthermore, the Court took into consideration the most recent status report filed by the SIT, which stated that 32 cases are currently pending investigation by the SIT.
The Court ordered the State government to file its response to petitioner Priyanka Tibrewal’s affidavit and set the matter for further hearing on April 19.
High Court hands over the West Bengal post-poll violence case to the CBI
The CBI has taken over the investigations on the orders of a five-judge panel of the Calcutta High Court, which on August 19, tasked the agency with a court-monitored probe into the innumerable murder and rape instances reported during West Bengal’s post-poll rioting which occurred in the aftermath of West Bengal Assembly elections in May 2021.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been constituted to investigate other criminal cases related to post-poll violence.
Post-poll violence in WB
Umpteen number of violence against political opponents have been reported from the state. In an overwhelming number of such incidents, the victims have been BJP supporters and workers, while the accused were said to be the supporters of the TMC party. More than a dozen BJP workers have lost their lives in the post-poll violence that ensued following the victory of the TMC party in the assembly elections.
On March 12 (local time), Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British troops in Afghanistan, said that the Western allies should not rule out the assassination of President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He was quoted by The Mirror saying, “NATO should consider all options to remove him from power. That would include killing him, although it is not likely to be viable or desirable.”
According to Kemp, Putin should at least face charges of war crimes either in Russia or at the International Criminal Court. He added, “The best thing would be to see Putin deposed, arrested and tried, either in Russia or at the International Criminal Court.” However, Kemp added such options were unlikely to happen.
He said while an attempt to kill the Russian President might not be acceptable to many, it could be the only way to end the war. He said, “If it came to the assassination, that might be unpalatable to many, but his life has no greater value than the lives of the thousands he has already murdered in Ukraine and elsewhere and may well kill in the future. He is the ‘Supreme Commander in Chief’ of the Russian forces who ordered an illegal war of aggression and is a legitimate target.”
‘If Hitler was killed in the late 1930s, 70 million would not have been killed’
Kemp said the British government had planned the assassination of Adolf Hitler. If he had been killed instead of appeased in the late 1930s, the 70 million people would not have been killed. He further added said, “Osama Bin Laden, Islamic State chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and Iranian Republican Guard Commander Qasem Soleimani all represented direct threats to the West. They were all killed to counter those threats. Putin represents a permanent and deadly threat that will remain while he is in power.”
Kemp said the Western allies should prioritize removing Putin from power. He said, “Our priority should be to help remove him. If enough pressure is brought to bear on Putin’s oligarchs, it could lead to a palace coup.”
Kemp is not the first person to suggest the assassination of President Putin. Earlier this month, Republican senator Lindsey Graham had tweeted, “Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military? The only way this ends is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out. You would be doing your country – and the world – a great service.”
The only people who can fix this are the Russian people.
Easy to say, hard to do.
Unless you want to live in darkness for the rest of your life, be isolated from the rest of the world in abject poverty, and live in darkness you need to step up to the plate.
He further said if someone could fix the current situation, it would be the people of Russia. It was a call for the people of Russia to assassinate their own President.
Recently, Facebook’s parent company Meta had declared that calls for violence against Russians and calls for the death of Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Lukashenko will be allowed on their platforms, including Instagram.
Russian military action on Ukraine
On February 24, Russia announced military action on Ukraine. Since then, western countries have imposed multiple sanctions on Russia and western companies have stopped their operations in Russia. The US has announced it would not buy oil from Russia leading to a spike in oil prices in the United States. Furthermore, the western countries are providing support to Ukraine in terms of ammunition and weapons to fight Russia in the conflict.
As the movie – ‘The Kashmir Files’ becomes the talk of the town across the country for delivering a gripping story of the genocide committed by the Islamists against the Hindus in Kashmir, there has been a greater interest among the public to know about the perpetrators responsible for unleashing terror on the innocent Kashmir Pandits.
One such Islamic terrorist who was responsible for the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits is none other than dreaded Pakistani sympathiser Yasin Malik.
Yasin Malik, a pro-Pakistan separatist leader and the former president of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front, is accused of funding terror in Kashmir. He has been arrested in a case related to funding and perpetrating terror on Indian soil. Besides, he is also allegedly responsible for kidnapping former Chief Minister and later Home Minister Mufti Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya Saeed.
Yasin Malik is also accused of the murder of four Air Force officers in January 1990. Sqn Ldr Ravi Khanna was one of the four Indian Air Force personnel was killed by Yasin Mallik and other JKLF terrorists, who were waiting at Sant Nagar Crossing to board their buses. In the incident that took place on January 25, 1990, 40 personnel, including a female official, were injured at that shootout led by Malik himself.
Malik has also been one of the primary figures who led the Kashmiri Hindu genocide in the 1990s.
Despite his terror links and his involvement in the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley, the erstwhile governments and the left-liberal media establishment have often tried to portray Yasin Malik as a peace icon and messiah of the Kashmiris. The ‘secular-liberal’ intelligentsia has time and again attempted to whitewash the crimes committed by Yasin Malik by treating him with kid-gloves and often considering him to be a legitimate stakeholder in the Kashmir peace process.
The media and the Congress ecosystem have gone even to the extent of terming him to be the country’s next ‘youth icon’. A terrorist responsible for the killing of several thousand Kashmiri Pandit was dressed up by the media as some sort of a ‘hero’.
In 2008, the India Today group had not only invited terrorist Yasin Malik to its conclave but also sold him to the public as a “Youth Icon”. The India Today group gave a platform to a terrorist to further his anti-India propaganda. In his 12-minute speech, Yasin Malik was seen pushing the separatist agenda live on television.
The shocking part was not a single ‘esteemed’ guest sharing the dais with Yasin Malik or India Today ‘journalist’ bothered to stop Yasin Malik from peddling his anti-India propaganda on national television.
Well, the celebrity status of Yasin Malik does not end here.
In 2006, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik to a meeting in his official residence in New Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also held crucial talks with terrorists on the part of his crucial outreach programme with the Jammu and Kashmir political leaders, separatists and other groups.
Terrorist.Yasin Malik with the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on February 17, 2006/ Image Source: India Today
The images of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh happily merrymaking with terrorist Yasin Malik has become one of the most dismaying images of the recent past. The particular image of Yasin Malik with an elected Indian Prime Minister haunts almost every Indian.
It is not just the Indian left-liberal media that has been enabling the likes of Yasin Malik to carry out their anti-India propaganda openly without any fear of consequences. The foreign press, which has been interfering in India’s domestic affairs for decades, is also guilty of making Yasin Malik a ‘hero’.
The British media outlet BBC had, in fact, organised a one-on-one interview with the pro-Pakistan terrorist in the past. In one such interview with the BBC, the JKLF terrorist Yasin Malik confessed to killing Kashmiri Hindu Justice Neelkanth Ganjoo. In the interview, Malik brazenly admits that JKLF killed Justice Ganjoo and goes on to ask, “What was the crime of Maqbool Bhat? It was a politically motivated judgement against the great political leader of Kashmir”.
Justice Ganjoo had delivered a death sentence to terrorist Maqbool Bhat, the founder of Azad Kashmir Plebiscite Front, a forerunner to the present day Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). Bhat carried out terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir and was involved in killing government officials.
In the same interview, Yasin Malik laughed away and admitted to killing four unarmed Indian Air Force men in Kashmir.
Watch terrorist Yasin Malik laugh away and admit to killing four unarmed Indian Air Force men in Kashmir.
Why has Government of India failed to begin trial against him and send him to the gallows?
Pro-Congress outlet – NDTV, which often sympathises with the Islamist causes, almost prostrated in front of Yasin Malik. Controversial NDTV India anchor Ravish Kumar had once referred to the terrorist as ‘Yasin Sahab’, a term of respect. Ravish Kumar had dialled terrorist Yasin Malik, who at the time was on a visit to Pakistan to meet and greet Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafeez Saeed. During the show, the BJP had raised its objection against inviting terrorists like Yasin Malik.
However, Ravish Kumar defended his choice of inviting Yasin Malik to his show.
As recently as in 2019, several Jammu and Kashmir mainstream politicians had jumped into the support of the terrorist after NIA arrested him on the charges of receiving funds through various illegal means, including hawala transactions and funding separatist and terrorist activities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Soon after his arrest, the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah had demanded the immediate release of the Pakistan sympathiser. He had saluted Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik for “choosing death over bowing before New Delhi”. Abdullah had also congratulated Malik for his strong willpower and praised his unwillingness to sell the self-respect of Kashmiris.
Joining the chorus, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Abdullah’s son Omar Abdullah also demanded the Centre to release terrorist Yasin Malik from the NIA custody immediately.
Well, it is not just whitewashing the crimes of Yasin Malik. The Indian media had also tried to humanise the Pakistan sponsored terrorist by showing the ‘bright’ side of Yasin Malik. The ‘liberal-secular’ media had hailed Yasin Malik for being a great husband to his Pakistani wife, Mushaal Malik. The love story of Yasin and Mushaal was all over the Indian press, and some media even invited Mushaal to interviews to portray how romantic her husband Yasin Malik was.
Seema Mustafa, controversial far-left ‘journalist’ who is also the current chief of Editors’ Guild of India, gave a platform to Mushaal to narrate how her love story with Yasin Malik was ‘crazy’. The anchor and Mushaal then discuss how loving Yasin Malik was as the latter shares how challenging for her to stay in India.
The 11-minute interview seemed more like a well-scripted show to ‘humanise’ terrorist Yasin Malik rather than introducing his wife to the Indians.
Why would someone want to interview the Pakistani wife of a terrorist, whose only objective is to kill innocent Hindus living in the valley so that Kashmir could be liberated?
It is pertinent to note that Mushaal Hussein Malik, the Pakistani wife of Kashmiri separatist and terrorist Yasin Malik, has been working vociferously to promote Pakistan’s agenda against India. She has been caught peddling Pakistan’s agenda several times by putting misinformation to defame the Indian administration at every level.
Rahul Pandita, a ‘secular’ Kashmiri Pandit, had even profiled Yasin Malik’s wife in a poetry-styled essay, where he explains how charming the lady is. In the same essay, Pandita tries to paint a rosy image of Yasin Malik, narrating how he came from a humble background.
“At a young age, he was one of the first five men who crossed the border in the mid-1980s and later started an armed insurgency in the valley. He has been arrested hundreds of times, and in the initial years of his incarceration, he was tortured badly. He suffered facial paralysis, deafness in his left ear and damage to one of his heart valves,” wrote Rahul Pandita showing how simple and human Yasin Malik was.
Essentially, Pandita wants us to believe that Yasin Malik was a victim who joined an armed insurgency in the latter part of his life. Pandita’s family has been a victim of the Islamic terrorism in the valley at the hands of Yasin Malik and his other terrorists buddies.
Here is another image of Yasin Malik happily greeting far-left anti-India propagandist Arundhati Roy. Roy and Malik, who shares a camaraderie, have been at the forefront of instigating Kashmiri youths to wage war against the Indian state.
Image Source: Taipei Times
The dreaded terrorist Yasin Malik, who has been the voice and face of the Pakistan terror establishment, is behind bars now. The JKLF chief is under probe for receiving funds from Pakistan’s external intelligence agency ISI to “foment trouble” in the valley. According to NIA, Malik has amassed properties worth more than Rs 15 crore.
The NIA suspects that Kashmiri terrorist groups are in touch with Pakistan terrorist organisations like Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and received funds to sponsor terror and stone-pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier on Monday, the Central government reversed its decision to ban Sikh employees working at the airports from carrying a Kirpan (a short sword or knife with a curved blade, worn as one of the 5 distinguishing signs of the Sikh Khalsa) on their person. Earlier this month, Union Ministry of Civil Aviation had put restrictions on airport employees from carrying the Kirpan in person, a compulsory religious symbol for Amritdhari (baptized) Sikhs.
Every baptized Sikh has to follow the rule of 5 Ks as ordained and commanded by Guru Gobind Singh Ji on Baisakhi day in 1699. The 5 Ks are Kesh (uncut hair), Kangha (comb), Kara (steel bracelet), Kachhera (underwear) and Kirpan.
While passengers were allowed to carry a Kirpan on person, just like before, Sikhs working at the airports were stopped from carrying a Kirpan. The decision led to condemnation from Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) who asked for a reversal of the decision.
Now the central government has issued a corrigendum allowing the Sikh employees at the airports to continue to carry their Kirpan with them. While the passengers traveling through the airports can continue to carry one to the cabin on their person, like earlier.
However, a slightly misleading tweet from ANI made many people believe that government has just now allowed Sikh passengers to carry a Kirpan inside the cabin during a flight, leading to outrage against the government.
Kirpan may be carried by a Sikh pax,on his person, provided length of blade doesn’t exceed 15.24 cms & total length of Kirpan doesn’t exceed 22.86 cms. Allowed while traveling on Indian aircraft within India operating from Domestic Terminals only:Bureau of Civil Aviation Security pic.twitter.com/NZXAyqs3Up
While this rule is exactly the same as it was earlier for passengers, many Twitter users got upset at this supposedly “new” exemption extended by the government.
Unhinged madness by @MoCA_GoI. I love the Sikhs & revere their Gurus, and we are defended and safe in large measure because of them, but this is downright dangerous for other passengers, not to mention an invitation for hostage situations and hijacking.
A nail cutter isn’t allowed, nor is a kitchen knife. So why are we changing rules to please a community which is known for bad temper and quite often for violent behaviour? 15.24 cms = 6 inches blade, enough to cut or threaten or Hijack a plane. Have we forgotten AI 182 , 1985?
It was only after a couple of hours that ANI put out a tweet clarifying that government has only reversed the decision to ban Kirpan on person for the employees working in the airports. However, till then, the outrage had already gone viral with many people condemning the government for allowing Kirpans inside the cabin of the airplanes.
MoCA in a revised order removes the clause mentioned in its earlier order which stated that no employees at any domestic or international airport terminal be allowed to carry Kirpan on person. pic.twitter.com/aW7es9JMDd
So just to summarize, there has been absolutely no change in regulations regarding carrying a Kirpan on person in domestic flights. Sikhs can carry the same size of Kirpan that they were allowed to carry earlier in domestic flights. The rule that had come to bar employees in airports from carrying one, has been withdrawn.
On Monday (March 14), The Washington Postcolumnist Rana Ayyub falsely claimed that a slogan intended for terrorists and enemies of India was directed towards common Indian Muslims.
Following the release of the movie ‘The Kashmir Files‘ on Friday (March 11), a Twitter user named Rohit Bishnoi had shared visuals from a movie theatre wherein the audience was heard chanting slogans against the terrorists and enemies of India.
As per the video, a man in the audience had yelled, “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro Saalo ko (Shoot the traitors of this nation).” Other slogans heard in the video were that of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ (victory to mother India).
He was soon joined by other members of the audience, who repeated the slogan in unison. ‘The Kashmiri Files’ depicted the barbarism, committed against Kashmiri Hindus in its crudest form. And the vcitims are yet to receive justice, even after 3 decades.
It was thus understandable that the people’s angst was directed towards the terrorists, who committed such unspeakable atrocities against the Hindu pandits, who were also in cahoots with separatists, enemies of India who want Kashmir to secede from India. However, ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub just assumed that the slogan was against Indian Muslims, even though there is no mention of the word Muslim or any religious identity in that slogan. “Gaddar’ just means enemies of the nation.
It is not clear why Rana Ayyub claimed that Indian Muslims are being called ‘Gaddar’. It is also not understood why the journalist equates Indian Muslims with ‘traitors’ or why has she concluded that a slogan calling for the glory of Mother India is ‘against Indian Muslims’.
Rana Ayyub tries to whitewash terrorists by deviating public discourse
In a tweet on Monday (March 14), The Washington Post columnist labelled the anti-terror sloganeering as a symbol of ‘anti-Muslim hate’ by regular Hindus.
“The anti-Muslim hate in theatres is not by political terrorists. It is by the regular majority. There is a reason the film is being declared tax free, the director doing a photo op with the Prime Minister. And some sick liberals will sermonise Muslims to defeat fascism,” she claimed.
Screengrab of the tweet by Rana Ayyub
Rana Ayyub used the slogans, chanted by some audience members, to sympathise with the terrorists and deviate public discourse from the atrocities committed against Hindu Pandits to Indian Muslims.
It comes as no surprise since the ‘journalist’ is known to sympathise with radical Islamists. Rana Ayyub thus tried to carefully tweak the narrative in favour of the terrorists who were at the forefront of the genocide in the Kashmir Valley.
Islamists had earlier tried to ban the release of The Kashmir Files
‘The Kashmir Files‘ film is based on the genocide of the Kashmiri Hindus by the fanatic radical Islamists in Kashmir in 1990 and the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus following that. The film stars Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumar, Chinmay Mandlekar, and Mrinal Kulkarni are in lead roles.
The film was opposed by many Islamists before its release. A petition was also filed in the Bombay high court after the trailer of the film was published on YouTube. The petition sought a ban on the release of the film citing that it could potentially hurt the sentiments of the Muslims in the country.
The Bombay high court had dismissed the petition clearing the way of releasing the film ‘The Kashmir Files’. The movie has received overwhelming support from the masses, thereby making it a commercial success as well bringing critical acclaim.
The former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard Sunday posted a video on Twitter reiterating claims about US-funded Biolabs in Ukraine. Expressing concerns over the “inadvertent or intentional” breach of these dangerous pathogens, Gabbard called for an immediate ceasefire around these US-funded laboratories in Ukraine.
In a two-minute video, Gabbard said there are 25 to 30 American-funded biological laboratories in Ukraine and called for an immediate ceasefire at the laboratories as they could spread dangerous pathogens.
There are 25+ US-funded biolabs in Ukraine which if breached would release & spread deadly pathogens to US/world. We must take action now to prevent disaster. US/Russia/Ukraine/NATO/UN/EU must implement a ceasefire now around these labs until they’re secured & pathogens destroyed pic.twitter.com/dhDTH5smIG
“Here are the undeniable fact”, said Gabbard, backing Russia’s claims that there are 25-30 US-funded Biolabs in Ukraine. She further warned that “According to the US government, these Biolabs and conducting research on dangerous pathogens. Ukraine is an active war zone with widespread bombing, artillery and shelling and these facilities, even in the best of circumstances, could easily be compromised and release these deadly pathogens.”
She added that “like Covid these pathogens know no borders. If they are inadvertently or purposely breached or compromised they will quickly spread all throughout Europe, The United States, and the rest of the world causing untold suffering and death. So in order to protect the American people, the people of Europe, the people around the world, these labs need to be stud down immediately and the pathogens that they hold need to be destroyed.”
Gabbard also urged the Biden administration in the United States not to cover up, but rather to take concrete steps to immediately stop US military from operating “dangerous” Biolabs in Ukraine.
“Instead of trying to cover this up, the Biden-Harris administration needs to work with Russia, Ukraine, NATO and UN to implement immediate ceasefire for all military actions in the vicinity of the labs and until it is secured and these pathogens are destroyed,” said the former US Congresswoman.
Gabbard reiterated China’s recent accusation of the United States. She claimed that the United States has 300 or so dangerous research labs around the world similar to the lab in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 may have originated from.
“Now after realising how dangerous and vulnerable these labs are, they should have been shut down two years ago, but they haven’t,” she further said, adding that this is not a politically partisan issue.
“The US administration and Congress needs to act now for the health and well being of every American and every person on the planet,” Gabbard said as she concluded her video monologue.
Notably, Tulsi Gabbard’s video caused quite a stir, with Utah Senator Mitt Romney harshly criticising her and implying that her remarks about the existence of so-called “US Biolabs” in Ukraine would result in people being killed.
The Republican senator accused his ex-House counterpart of spreading “treasonous lies” that amounted to “Russian propaganda”.
“Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives”, Tweeted Mitt Romney in response to Tulsi Gabbard’s video post.
Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.
Russia and China accuse US of having Biolabs in Ukraine
It may be recalled that prior to this, both Russia and China had accused the US military of operating “dangerous” Biolabs in Ukraine. On March 9, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian Tweeted a snippet from a press conference where he asked the US to release “relevant details as soon as possible” regarding alleged US biological laboratories in Ukraine.
On Sunday, March 6, the Russian Defense Ministry had claimed that there were “evidence of a US-financed military biological program developed in Ukraine.”
US admits there are biological research facilities in Ukraine
Interestingly, on Tuesday, the US State Department official Victoria Nuland in a way had admitted that US-funded Biolabs are working on developing bioweapons on Ukrainian soil. Nuland testified before a Senate Foreign Relation Committee hearing on Ukraine in Washington, DC, and said that the United States was working with Ukraine to prevent invading Russian forces from seizing biological research material. The State Department also stated that it was concerned that Russian forces are trying to gain control of biological research facilities within Ukraine.
By stating that Russia will be held responsible for any ‘biological or chemical weapon attack,’ Nuland had effectively admitted what the Russian government has been saying all along: that US-funded Biolabs are developing bioweapons on Ukrainian soil.
Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has written to PM Modi asking to drop the Neutrino Observatory Project planned at Theni, citing ‘environmental concerns’. DMK chief Stalin has written the letter asking the PM to intervene and drop the Neutrino Observatory Project claiming that it may damage the local ecosystem and tiger movement in the area.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin writes a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging an intervention in advising the concerned authorities to drop the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project in Theni, Tamil Nadu. pic.twitter.com/b8akRa9PFN
In his letter, MK Stalin has written that the proposed project site at Pottipuram village in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu falls within the Mathikettan-Periyar tiger corridor as mapped by the National Tiger Conservation Authority and if the project is carried out, it may ‘destroy’ the genetic flow of the corridor.
Stalin’s letter further stated that the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority had in 2017 pointed out the following:
The tunnel works will involve the blasting of the hard rock with powerful explosives, and will also remove large quantities of rocks from the mountain.
The tunnel will be at the depth of over 1000 m from the top of the mountain, so it may create tremendous pressure, risking rockburst and roof collapse.
The project site is close to the Western Ghats, so it may impact the biodiversity of the area.
The project site constitutes a significant water catchment area for the Sambal and Kotakudi rivers
Stalin stated that a ministerial delegation from the state had met Union Minister Piyush Goyal in this regard in September 2021, conveying the above-mentioned concerns and requesting the central government to drop the project.
Stalin asked the PM to intervene in the matter and drop the Neutrino Observatory project.
What is the Neutrino Observatory Project (INO)
Neutrinos are fundamental particles included in the lepton family. The TIFR website says they come in three flavours, one associated with electrons and the others with their heavier cousins the muon and the Tau. Tata Institute of Fundamental research is one of the lead partners in the project.
As per the official website of the project, more than 50 scientists from about 15 Institutes and Universities in India have come together to form the National Neutrino Collaboration group (NNCG). Scientists have theorised that neutrinos are not massless as they were thought to be, and research on this field may lead to major breakthroughs in particle physics, astrology and cosmology.
The observatory and its laboratories are planned to study the atmospheric neutrinos produced by interactions of cosmic rays in the Earth’s atmosphere. The INO project is a multi-institutional effort. The planned underground laboratory will be under a rock cover of approx. 1200 m for Non-accelerator based high energy and nuclear physics research, as per the site.
The project is jointly funded by the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology of the government of India.
Proposed in 2005, marred by delays and politics
The project was conceptualised back in 2005. The site at Theni district was identified back in 2009. In 2015, the central government had approved a 1500 crore fund for the project. But the project has been a non-starter, as per reports. In 2015, MDMK leader Vaiko had filed a petition in Madras HC against this project. Stalin, after coming to power, had met PM Modi and had requested to shift the project elsewhere.
A number of scientists, mathematicians and Nobel laureates have asked the TN government to not hinder the project, asserting that the project will place the state of Tamil Nadu on the global map for advanced scientific research.
On March 14, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri shared a photograph on Twitter where a group of people were seen holding the Indian National Flag at a theatre in Washington DC where they went to see the film Kashmir Files. In the photograph, the son of late Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo was standing holding the flag with a broad smile on his face.
From Washington DC. The gentleman (4th from left) is swargiya Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo’s son. Indian judiciary & system never punished the terrorists who killed him in broad daylight. #TheKashmirFiles is a small step in bringing justice to Judge Ganjoo’s sacrifice. #RightToJusticepic.twitter.com/VnHXCOZ7WV
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) March 14, 2022
Agnihotri, while mentioning him and Judge Ganjoo in the tweet, said, “From Washington DC. The gentleman (4th from left) is swargiya Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo’s son. Indian judiciary & system never punished the terrorists who killed him in broad daylight. #TheKashmirFiles is a small step in bringing justice to Judge Ganjoo’s sacrifice.”
The murder of Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo
On November 4, 1989, three Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorists shot High Court Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo in broad daylight when he was in Hari Singh Street market near the high court in Srinagar. Judge Ganjoo was brutally murdered for his involvement in the Amar Chand murder trial. As a sessions court judge, he had given death sentence to the terrorist Maqbool Bhat in August 1968.
On the fateful day, the retired judge had gone to Jammu & Kashmir Bank’s branch located on Hari Singh Street Market in Srinagar. The terrorists fired several shots from close range, and he died on the spot. After his murder, an announcement was made on Radio Kashmir, “Unknown assailants gunned down a former Sessions Judge in Maharaj Bazaar, Srinagar.” The death of Judge Ganjoo was the second murder of a prominent Kashmiri Pandit within a few weeks. Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Tika Lal Taploo was murdered in September. Tika Lal Taploo was the first causality of the so-called ‘Azad Kashmir’ movement that finally led to the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the valley.
Who was Maqbool Bhat?
Maqbool Bhat was a Kashmiri terrorist who co-founded National Liberation Front (NFL). It was a military wing linked to ‘Azad Kashmir Plebiscite Front’. NFL was a precursor to the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, a banned terrorist organization Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Bhat carried out terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir. He was tried and convicted for the death of two officials. Bhat was hanged to death on February 11, 1984, in Tihar Jail, Delhi.
Bhat was born on February 18, 1938, in the present-day Kupwara district. During his college days, he was associated with Mirza Afzal Beg’s Plebiscite Front. In August 1958, following the arrest of Shiekh Abdullah (father of Farooq Abdullah), Bhat left for Pakistan, where he joined Peshawar University and did MA in Urdu Literature. In 1965 he joined Azad Kashmir Plebiscite Front as publicity secretary.
With an oath to ‘liberate’ Kashmir, he, along with Amanullah Khan, established an underground armed wing of AKPF and called it National Liberation Front (NFL). He was responsible for the overall coordination of the group.
Bhat’s terror outfit was accused of kidnapping and killing CID officer Amar Chand in the valley and Indian diplomat Ravindra Mahatre in the United Kingdom. He was also accused of being involved in the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane named Ganga. The hijackers had demanded the release of 36 NFL terrorists and took the plane to Lahore. However, the passengers were released, and no demands were fulfilled.
Bhat was tried for sabotage and murder. He was convicted and awarded death sentence in September 1968 by then-Session Court Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo. After his multiple petitions were rejected, Bhat was hanged to death on February 11, 1984.
Congress and its allied ecosystem has been really rattled with the commercial and critical success of the latest Vivek Agnihotri film, The Kashmir Files. Leftists, with whom Congress has firmly aligned itself in the 21st century, have out-rightly denied Kashmiri Hindu genocide or tried to justify it for years.
Kerala Congress official Twitter account went on a long rant blaming BJP for the Kashmiri Hindu genocide and exodus, while at the same time denying that there was any targeting of Hindus. Now journalists loyal to Congress have gone a step ahead, with one Piyush Babele blaming Lal Krishna Advani’s Rath Yatra which was part of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for this genocide.
In a series of incoherent tweets, Babele claimed that LK Advani’s Rath Yatra created an atmosphere against Muslims in India, which resulted in hatred against Kashmiri Hindus in the valley.
कश्मीर फाइल्स जिसे देखनी हो देखे और जिसे ना देखनी हो ना देखे। लेकिन यह तथ्य ध्यान में रखें कि अगर भाजपा नेता लालकृष्ण आडवाणी ने रथयात्रा न निकाली होती और पूरे भारत में मुसलमानों के खिलाफ माहौल नहीं बनाया होता तो कश्मीर में भी कश्मीरी पंडितों के खिलाफ माहौल नहीं बनता। 1/3
However, there is one teeny tiny problem with this argument, LK Advani started his Rath Yatra 8 months after the genocide in Kashmir. While the Rath Yatra started in September 1990, the Kashmiri Hindu genocide took place in January 1990. Now unless LK Advani had Dr Strange’s time stone and was able to manipulate space-time continuum, it is hard to imagine how he could have influenced January’s events in September.
The alleged journalist tried to defend his stupid remark by later saying that Advani had started creating “Anti-Muslim atmosphere” much before his Rath Yatra. However, it looked like a stubborn refusal to accept a mistake after getting caught with one’s hand inside the cookie jar.
This is not the first time someone has mixed up chronology while trying to give a clean chit to terror unleashed by Islamists on Hindus specifically because of their religion. ‘Activist’ Arundhati Roy had once very famously claimed that on 27 February 2002, the Karsevaks who were burnt alive by the Islamic mob in Godhra were returning after ‘demolishing’ the disputed structure in Ayodhya often referred to as Babri Masjid.
The disputed structure was demolished full 10 years prior the the carnage. Not just that, she had even said that ‘train caught fire’ and that ‘nobody knows who set fire to the train’. You can read our detailed report on the Godhra carnage which lists out Nanavati Mehta Commission report on eyewitness statement and other details, here.
Meanwhile, even though Congress and their aligned journalists are seething over the film, The Kashmir Files continues to make new records on the box office and set is to be a mega success.
Sunil Jakhar, a senior Congress leader from Punjab, on Monday took a dig at the party for the appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief minister of the state. Channi was appointed Punjab CM months ahead of the all-important Punjab assembly polls following the removal of Captain Amarinder Singh from the CM post.
Taking to social media website Twitter, Jakhar said that Channi had been a liability for the party, adding that it was him and not the top brass that pulled the party down in the assembly elections held earlier last month. Jakhar also mentioned that it was a certain ‘Pbi’ lady at the Congress Working Committee meeting who proposed Channi as the chief minister in the first place. He took a sarcastic jibe at the Congress party for not declaring Channi as a ‘National Treasure’.
“An asset – r u joking ? Thank God he [Channi] wasn’t declared a ‘National Treasure’ at CWC by the ‘Pbi’ lady who proposed him as CM in first place. May be an asset for her but for the party he has been only a liability. Not the top brass,but his own greed pulled him and the party down,” Jakhar tweeted.
An asset – r u joking ?
Thank God he wasn’t declared a ‘National Treasure' at CWC by the 'Pbi' lady who proposed him as CM in first place
May be an asset for her but for the party he has been only a liability. Not the top brass,but his own greed pulled him and the party down pic.twitter.com/Lnf6vJgRzF
Jakhar also attached two images in his tweet—the first one about the Enforcement Directorate seizing Rs 10 crores from Channi’s nephew—and the second one about Congress leaders in Punjab blaming the top brass for pulling CM Channi down.
Congress suffers a humiliating defeat in Punjab assembly elections 2022
The Congress party suffered a humiliating defeat in the Punjab assembly polls. Out of the 117 seats, it managed to win a meagre 18 seats, with CM Channi losing from both the sides he contested. He lost to AAP’s Labh Singh Ugoke in Bhadaur, Chamkaur Sahib he was defeated by AAP candidate Charanjit Singh.
Another Congress stalwart, Navjot Singh Sidhu, also suffered an embarrassing defeat in the assembly elections. Aam Aadmi Party emerged victorious in the Punjab Assembly polls as it swept the state, racking up a staggering 92 seats out of a total of 117 assembly seats.
